Since Sega began development of Sonic the Hedgehog in 1990, the concept has grown from a small teenage hedgehog – fast, furry, and blue – to an adventure of epic proportions.

Mobius, Sonic's home planet, was established in Francis Mao's 1991 promotional comic. Since then, the world has grown beyond the expected along with the success of Sonic the Hedgehog's fame and popularity.

If you want to do the good creatures of Mobius a service and take up the mantle of Sonic the Hedgehog in an effort to save the day, here are seven essential pieces of information you need to be aware of:

• Golden Rings: Sonic's life expectancy is linked to how many of the gold rings he collects. He can also buy valuable objects with them for later use. Last but not least, collecting 100 rings often results in additional opportunities to save the day.

• Chaos Emeralds: The Chaos Emeralds are seven in number and hold great power. Yellow, purple, red, grey, blue, orange, and green, are the colors. The holder of the Chaos Emeralds controls the world. Needless to say, they can be good or bad depending on whose hands they fall into.

• Master Emerald: The Master Emerald can only be controlled by the Knuckles Tribe. If it falls into the wrong hands, it is capable of great harm, even if the Chaos Emeralds are working for good. After all, the Master Emerald is capable of negating their powers and empowering machinery. Just the type of power the evil Dr. Robotnik would love to have!

• Checkpoints: Checkpoints are vital to your mission in helping Sonic collect the Chaos Emeralds and keep power out of Dr. Robotnik's hands. They save Sonic's position in a zone, so that if there are any setbacks, he does not have to start his mission all over again.

• Goals: By making it to the Goals at the end of each zone, you as Sonic the Hedgehog can free captives of Dr. Robotnik or earn bonuses to aid you in the fight. But you have to get there first!

• Springs: If you are going to save Mobius from the clutches of Dr. Robotnik and his badniks, you have not a moment to spare. Springs allow you faster acceleration through each zone, so you can more quickly reach the final confrontation.

• Animals: In every great battle between good and evil, there are always the Innocents: those creatures caught in the crossfire and often used to the villain's gain. Such is the case for the Animals. Dr. Robotnik uses the Animals to help power his evil machinery.

Mobius is a beautiful world worth fighting for. It is home to Sonic the Hedgehog, one of the video gaming community's most famous and beloved heroes. Unfortunately, it is also home to some of the greatest evils, in particular one Dr. Robotnik. But if you keep the seven items in this article in mind, you will never lose sight of the ultimate objective: keeping Mobius safe, once and for all.